Magnetically bistabilized mechanical memory device



A ril14, 1970 w. B. TEMPLE-TON 3,506,970

. MAGNETICALLY BYSTABILIZED MECHANICAL MEMORY DEVICE Filed Dec. 4, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I6 20 l6 l0 .Fig.1. 32

INVENTOR.

BY WILL/AM B. TEMPLETON.

ATTORNEY.

April 14, 1970 w. B. TEMPLETON MAGNETICALLY BYSTA-BILI ZED MECHANICAL MEMORY DEVICE Filed Dec. 4 196'? l j if, 3

Fig. 3.

- 2 Sheets-Sheet 3 0 Q l o v Fig.5.

INVENTOR.

WILLIAM B. TEMPLE T0.

A T TORNE Y.

United States Patent 3,506,970 MAGNETICALLY BISTABILIZED MECHANICAL MEMORY DEVICE William B. Templeton, Howell, Mich., assignor to Burroughs Corporation, Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Filed Dec. 4, 1967, Ser. No. 687,792 Int. Cl. Gllc 23/00; F16h 54/04; H01h 43/10 US. Cl. 340-173 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A rotatable disc having a plurality of slideable pins adjacent the periphery of the disc, is supported between a pair of spaced-apart parallel magnets. The pins extend beyond the broadsides of the disc. When the pins extend wholly to one side of the disc they are in a normal ineffective position. When the pins extend wholly to the other side of the disc they are in an effective position. The two magnets maintain the pins in either position. An electromagnet is positioned along the path of travel of the pins to controllably move a pin from the ineffective to the effective position. A control member or switch is positioned along the path of travel of the pins and is actuated by any pin which is in an effective position. Afterthe switch and before the electromagnet, a pin in an effective position is returned to the ineffective position.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention herein is a rotatable information storage apparatus using a pin Wheel for the storage of information. The information is indexed into the apparatus by an electromagnet which operatively moves a selected pin from one position to another. After a predetermined period of time, the selected pin is operatively coupled to an auxiliary apparatus, which is dependent upon the information indexed into the pin wheel. The indexed pin is retained in its indexed position until it is subsequently restored to its non-indexed position.

A pair of permanent magnets overlie the path of the pin and operate to maintain the pins in their non-indexed position until they are indexed. Once a pin is indexed, the magnets then operate to retain the pin in its indexed position.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a plan view illustrating the several elements of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a side view of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line 3-3 of FIG. 2, showing the configuration of one of the magnetic elements;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line 44 of FIG. 2, showing the configuration of the pin carrier wheel;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line 55 of FIG. 2, showing the configuration of the other magnetic element;

FIG. 6 is a schematic drawing of a sheet transport system utilizing the invention to control the selection of a desired deflection gate; and

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a pin in the carrier wheel.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring to FIG. 2 by characters of reference, there is shown an information storage apparatus 10 according to my invention. The information storage apparatus 10 comprises a pair of spaced-apart parallel magnets 12 and 14,

a carrier 16 intermediate said magnets, a plurality of magnetically attractablepins 18 slideably contained by said carrier 16, and an actuating member or electromagnet 20 spaced from the carrier 16 and positioned to be axially in line with the pins 18. The magnets 12 and 14 are mounted on a pair of side frames 22 and 24 which also support a transverse shaft 26 in a pair of bearings 28 and 30. The shaft 26 drives, supports, and maintains the carrier 16 equidistant from each each magnet.

The pins 18 are slideably contained in a plurality of apertures in the carrier 16, which are equally and angularly spaced about the axis of rotation of the carrier. The pins 18 are basically I shaped having a pair of end flanges 32 which are larger than the apertures, to prevent the pin from being removed from the carrier, and a body member 34 interconnecting each flange 32. The diameter of the body member 34 is smaller than the diameter of the aperture and its length is greater than the width of the carrier 16. It is the positioning of the pins in respect to the carrier that is indicative of whether or not information is stored in the apparatus. If, for example, the pins.

18 extend wholly to the right of the carrier 16, as is shown in FIG. 2, I have arbitrarily defined this position as an ineffective or biased position. Conversely, if a pin or pins extend wholly to the left of the carrier 16, this is defined as an effective or stored position.

In order to maintain a pin or pins in either position, I have placed a biasing magnet 14 adjacent the inffective position of the pins 18 and a storage magnet 12 adjacent the effective position of the pins 18. Both magnets 12 and 14 are permanent magnets of substantially equal magnetic strength. They are basically annular in shape having a large central aperture to provide clearance for the shaft 26. Along the periphery of each magnet 12 and 14 there is an interruption. The interruption in the storage magnet 12 is of greater extent than the interruption in the biasing magnet 14. This is to allow the biasing magnet to attract and position all the pins in an effective position. The leading edges 36 and 38 of the magnets are positioned so as to be axially in line with each other.

Positioned in the interruption of the storage magnet 12, and axially opposite the interruption of the biasing magnet 14, is the electromagnet 20 which selectively movesv a pin 18 from an ineffective position to an effective position. Since the electromagnet 20 is not bucking the biasing magnet, the magnetic force of the electromagnet 20 is sufficient to cause a pin 18 to slide in the carrier from an ineffective to an effective position. The magnetic force of the electromagnet is not sufiicient to affect any pins adjacent to the pin which is axially aligned with the electromagnet.

Positioned downstream from the electromagnet and adjacent the path of a pin in an effective position, is a switch 40 having an actuator 42 extending into the path of the pin. As a pin 18a, shown in FIG. 4, is moved by the carrier 16 past the switch 40, the actuator 42 is flexed, thereby causing the switch to actuate. The terminals of the switch may be connected to any suitable load such as a lamp, solenoid, bell, etc.

OPERATION The shaft 26 is driven by a source of power, which is not shown, in a direction indicated by the arrows. As each pin passes the trailing edge 44 of the storage magnet 12, the biasing magnet 14 will cause any pins in the effective position to slide to the ineffective position and be maintained in that position. It is to be noted that neither magnet can overpower the attraction of the other and if a pin is in one position while between both magnets, it will remain in that position until there is only the biasing magnet in axial alignment with the pin.

The schematic drawing of FIG. 6 illustrates a use of my invention in a document or check transport and sorting system 44. Briefly, the system separates a group of checks into various sub-groups according to printed information on each check. For the purposes of illustration, I have illustrated a section of the main transport system 46 having one secondary transport guideway 48 intersecting the main guideway. At the intersection there is a controlled deflection gate 50 which will deflect a check from the main to the secondary guideway. The gate is controlled by a solenoid 52 which is connected to a source of power by the switch 40 of the information storage apparatus 10. The electromagnet 20 is connected by an amplifier 54 to a transducer 56 which is positioned at the inlet to the transport system 46. The shaft 26 is operatively connected to the main drive of the transport system 46 so as to have the carrier 16 move at a speed which is proportional to the transport speed. The switch 40 is positioned a predetermined distance from the electromagnet 20. This distance, measured along the path of pin travel, is proportional to the distance from the transducer 56 to the opening position of the gate 50.

As the check 58 passes the transducer 56, a signal is generated which indicates that the check should be deflected to the secondary guideway 48. This signal is amplified and applied to the electromagnet 20. When the electromagnet 20 is energized, the pin which is axially in line therewith, is moved to an eifective position. As the check moves along the transport 46, the pin 18 is moved along its circular path by the carrier 16. When the pin actuates the switch 20, power is applied to the solenoid 52 to open the gate 50. At this time the check is juxtaposed to the gate 50 and is deflected thereby into the secondary transport 48.

The pin continues along its path until it passes the trailing edge 44 of the storage magnet 12. At that time, the biasing magnet 14 attracts the pin to the ineffective position.

In the several views of the drawings, I have shown a plurality of pins contained by the carrier. This is not to be understood as a limitation of the invention due to the sufficiency of one pin. With a plurality of pins, the problems of synchronizing the presence of a check at the transducer 56 with a pin 18 axially in line with the electromagnet 20 are substantially reduced.

An information storage apparatus comprising a carrier 16 which is movable along a predetermined path, a pin 18 which is slideably contained by said carrier and movable thereby along the path, a means for biasing the pin 18 in an ineffective position, an actuator to move a pin 18 to an effective position and a magnet 12 positioned adjacent the path to retain the pin in the effective position for a predetermined time, have been described. The apparatus 10 was illustrated in a check transport system to control the deflection gates from the main transport to a secondary transport.

It is apparent that many changes and modifications of the several features described herein may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. It is, therefore, apparent that the foregoing description is by way of illustration of the invention rather than limitation of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. An information storage apparatus comprising:

a carrier movable along a predetermined path,

a magnetically attractable pin slideably contained by said carrier and movable thereby along said path, said pin normally biased laterally of said carrier to an ineffective position,

an actuating member for transferring said pin from said ineffective position to an effective position, and

a magnet adjacent said path for retaining said actuated pin in an effective position.

2. An information storage apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the carrier is a non-magnetic member having an axis of rotation.

3. An information storage apparatus according to claim 1 where said magnet is a permanent magnet.

4. An information storage apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the magnet has an interruption therein and overlies the predetermined path.

5. An information storage apparatus according to claim 4 wherein the actuating member is an electromagnet positioned in the interruption of the magnet.

6. An information storage apparatus comprising:

a non-magnetic carrier having an axis of rotation and containing a plurality of equally and angularly spaced apertures about said axis of rotation,

a magnetic pin slideably contained in each aperture,

and extending outwardly of said carrier,

said pin movable by said carrier along a predetermined path,

a first annular magnet having an interruption, said magnet parallel to and adjacent one side of said carrier, said magnet biasing said pins in an ineffective position,

an actuator for moving one of said pins to an eflective position, and

a second annular magnet having an interruption, said magnet parallel with and adjacent to the opposide side of said carrier for retaining said actuated pin in an effective position.

7. An information storage apparatus according to claim 6 wherein said first and second magnets are permanent magnets and the interruption of said second magnet overlies the interruption and an adjacent portion of said first magnet.

8. An information storage apparatus according to claim 7 wherein the actuator is an electromagnet positioned within the interruption of said second magnet and in line with the interruption of said first magnet.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,909,626 10/1959 Enssle 20038 3,070,205 12/ 1962 Monohan 74-568 X 3,445,825 5/1969 Cedrone 340-173 3,175,422 3/1965 Braun 74-468 BERNARD KONICK, Primary Examiner I F. BREIMAYER, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

